Hurricane Hill, Hurricane Ridge Snowshoe — Friday, Dec. 1, 2006

Olympic Peninsula > Northern Coast

Caught the first ferry out of Keystone (7:15) to be in Port Angeles right when the road opened (9:30) and up on the ridge as early as humanly possible this time of year. It was a little past prime photography time, but was nice to be up there before the sun started melting the snow on the trees and turning the powder into slop. Of course since I was starting early, and the road was closed on Friday, I also had the joy of breaking trail wherever I went. Snowshoeing through deep powder was nice, but was also hard work. I actually turned around at one point, but a group a little ways behind me convinced me to keep going as we traded off breaking trail. Turns out they weren't too used to hiking in the snow, and I headed off by myself again a little past the end of the road where I hiked right along the ridge where the snow had been scoured and compacted and walking was easier. This didn't last of course, as I weaved through trees along the ridge. If you're familiar with this area, you'll know where the summer trail goes. Don't try to follow it. Just follow the ridge even though that does require a couple ups and downs (relatively minor) and weaving through trees. Eventually I made it to the top of Hurricane Hill and the view was very nice although low clouds below obscured the cities of Port Angeles and Victoria. The hike back was made much easier by the couple dozen or so people who had made it out at least to the end of the road during the day. I made it back to the parking lot at 3:30 or so, so overall, a great day in the hills. Glad I was able to take advantage of it. Unless, they get a significant amount of snow up there on Monday, looks like there will be a good track for the forseeable future.